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Restriction oi 
Japanese immigration. 






A^ REPI^Y: 



-B Y_ 



HERBERT B. JOHNSON, 

Supertntcn&cnt pacific Japanese Ifiission, 
IHctl^obist (Episcopal Cl^urcl^. 



1905. 



OUTr^INK. 



Object of this Pamphlet. 

The Origin of this Agitation. 

The Voice of Organized Labor against the Japanese 

The Building Trades Council ; 

The San Francisco Labor Council ; 

The American Federation of Labor ; 

Japanese and Korean Exclusion League ; 

Pacific Coast Branches ; 

The Wider Movement. 
Boycott of Japanese. 
How the Japanese Live. 
The Character of the Japanese. 
Able Pacific Coast Papers not in Sympathy : — 

Los Angeles Herald ; 

The Argonaut ; 

The San Francisco Call. 
Position of leading Eastern Papers : — 

New York Tribime -, 

Philadelphia Press. 
Methods of Dealing v/ith the Question. 
Opinion of President Harriman. 
The Real Problem. 

Comparative size of the Japanese Menace. 
America's High Ideals of Justice and Right. 
Refutation of Charges by Special Committee : — 

Crime and Wages ; 

Japan and the Japanese Friendly ; 

Agitation Ill-timed ; 

Restriction, but not Di:.crimination ; 

An Economic and Moral Question. 



C. W. Gordon, Printer, 595 Mission Street, San Francisco, Cal. 



Restrichoh of Ja^^anese Immigrahon. 



OBJECT OF THIS PAMPHLET. 

Knowing that an organized effort is being made to present to 
Congress, from a wrong standpoint, the question of restricting 
Japanese and Korean immigration, appreciating the evil in- 
fluence of the printed matter used in the agitation, and believing 
that no greatci- calamity could overtake our country at the 
present time than that resulting from hasty and inconsiderate 
action on this fpicstion. I fe(^l constrained to shed such light as 
I am able. Having spent nearly two years on the Pacific Coast 
in careful study of the problem as it exists, from Canada to 
Mexico and from the J^ocky ^lountains to the Pacific, and with 
a knowledge of Japan and the Japanese gained by eighteen 
vears of residence in various parts of the Japanese empire, it 
would seem that my knowledge ought to be of value in the settle- 
ment of the question. The object of this pamphlet is to 
show the origin and animus of the movement which is made 
to appear as very general, to indicate the real conditions existing 
among the Japanese on the Pacific Coast, and to point out a 
better way of dealing with the problem than that suggested. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT. 

Much to the surprise of everybody, save a few union labor 
leaders and politicians, the San Francisco Chronicle began, late 
in February last, a most untimely and unjust agitation against 
Japanese and Korean inmiigration. The worst that had ever 
been said concerning the coming of the Chinese was repeated and 
enlarged upon. 

The unscrupulous articles and editorials continued consider- 
ably more than a month under such headings as the following: 
"Crime and Poverty Go Hand in Hand With Asiatic Labor,'* 
"Brown Men Are an Evil in the Public Schools," "Japanese a 
Menace to American Women," "Japs Throttle Progress in the 
Rich Fruit Section," "Brown Asiatics Steal Brains of Whites," 



2 Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 

"How the Japanese Iminiuration Companies Override Onr 
Laws," "Biji' Iiinuiiiration May Be Japanese Policy," etc., etc. 
Employers of Asiatic labor were severely condemned, and the 
doctrine was proclaimed that it would be better to allow fruit to 
rot in the orchards and lira in to remain unharvested in the 
fields than to employ Asiatic labor. The boycott of Japanese 
places of business was advocated and beuun. An eti'ort was 
made to have the Japanese children excluded from the public 
schools. Anti-Japanese and Korean Leagues were organized in 
San Francisco and Oakland, and the articles above referred to 
were reprinted and scattered broadcast. 

On the first of March last, just one week from the publication 
of the first article, the State Senate adopted a resolution,, 
which was concurred in the following day by the Assembly, 
requesting and demanding that action be taken, without delay, 
by tr(>aty or otherwise, tending within reasonable bounds to 
limit and diminish the further innnigration of Japanese laborers 
into the United States, and arrangements were made to bring the 
matter to the attention of the President and the Department of 
State. The surprise of the people was indescribable. Everybody 
wondered what could be underneath a movement that seemed to 
be so spontaneous and so general. Soon the question was repeated 
again and again, "Are the labor leaders using the politicians or 
the politicians the labor leaders?" 

ORGANIZED LABOR AGAINST JAPANKSE. 

The articles had been, running but two or three days when 
Secretary Tveitmoe, of the Building Trades Council, in an inter- 
view said: 

"This question was taken up four years ago by Organized 
Labor, tlie Building Trades Council of San Francisco, and the 
San Francisco Labor Council. We recognized at that time the 
imminent danger to our State and our country from Japanese 
immigration, and the agitation i-esnlted in a mass meeting, which 
was held in the Metropolitan Templ(\ where Dr. A. E. Ross, 
Cleveland L. Dam and others made strong addresses showing 
how the Japanese immigi-ation ttnided to deteriorate and injure 
the State of California both fi-om a political and sociological 
standpoint. ' ' 

A few days later Mr. Tveitmoe, at a lai'gely attended meeting 



Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 3 

of the Buildiiiij' Trades Council, offered a resolution wliieli was 
adopted, " reiie\viii.si- the protect of the Council against the 
national polie\', laws and treaties which allow the Japanese to 
entei' our poi'is in uiiliniited numbers, to the great detriment of 
our citizenship, oui' standard of living, and the progress of 
American civilization." It was further resolved to endorse 
the action of th(>- California State Legislature, and to send 
copies of the resolution to President Roosevelt, Secretary of 
State Hay, and to the local representatives in Congress. A day 
or two later \Uc San Fnntcisco Labor Council took up the ques- 
tion, and through its law and legislative conunittee prepared an 
appeal "from the people of the Pacific Coast to the people of the 
whole United States, the President, members of Congress and all 
legislative, judicial and executive members of the Government." 
It will be notici^l here that an effort was to be nuide to make 
the movenu'ut appear general, as an appeal was to be prepared 
from the people of the Pacific Coast to the people of the whole 
United States, etc. This was in keeping with the plan of a 
year ago, when the American Federation of Labor met in San 
Francisco. That body adopted, after a long preamble, the 
following: 

"Resolved, That the terms of the Chinese exclusion act should 
be enlarged and extended so as to permanently exclude from the 
United States and its insular territory all classes of Japanese 
and Coreans other than those exempted by the present terms of 
that act; further 

Resolved, That these resolutions be submitted, through proper 
avenues, to the Congress of the United States, with a request 
for favorable consideration and action by that body." 

The Federation sent a connnissioner to Japan to study the 
labor problem, and his repoi't was ready when the scurrilous 
articles began to appear. 

JAPANESE A\D KOREAN EXCLUSION LEAGUE. 

The next step was the organization of the Japanese and Korean 
Exclusion League in San Francisco, which, through various com- 
mittees, has been carrying on a vigorous campaign in the various 
labor organizations of the country. The effort has been made 
to secure the endorsement of as manv differc^nt unions in as 



4 Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 

many parts of the country as possible, and when we consider 
the character of the literature sent out— filled with misrepresen- 
tations—it is not strange that so many have given approval. 
There are unions in the East which have adopted resolutions 
that in the very nature of the case could have had no personal 
knowledge of the Japanese nor experience with them. What a 
pity that they have not had safer leaders ! 

Note the following, as i-eported in the Chronicle of August 
14: 

' ' Your committee has been and is now furnishing the American 
Federation of Labor with plenty of statistical matter and data 
regarding the Asiatics in our vicinity," the report stated. "The 
result of this work brought many expressions from the press of 
the interior on the subject. President CJompers of the American 
Federation of Labor has personally taken up the question, and 
no doubt will accomplish a great deal of good work among our 
Eastern friends, where it is most needed." 

The same paper gives the steps in the organizati<m of branches 
all over the Pacific Coast States. One of the members commented 
caustically upon the non-committal nature of the communications 
received from the State Senators and Representatives, and said : 
"If our Congressional delegation does not talk any more def- 
initely to Congress than it talks to us, all that M'e can do will 
amount to nothing. The only way to bring the Congressmen 
into sympathy with the movement," he said, "is to make it 
dangerous for them to neglect it." He urged the formation of 
strong branches of the league all over the State and in all the 
Western States, to brace up the members of the delegation, and 
the action was taken unanimously. 

THE WIDER MOVEMENT. 
At a meeting of the Jap.mese and Korean Exclusion League held 
in San Francisco Sunday, October 22, as reported by ihe Sa?i 
Frayicisco Call, A. E. Yoell, die secretary, submitted the n port cf 
the executive board. It contained the following statenunts : 

" 'That many replies had been received to the letters of the 
committee on publicity and statistics regarding the number of 
Japanese at various places; that wide publicity had been ob- 
tained, with the result that twenty-seven of the largest labor ex- 
changes in the East had taken up the subject of exclusion; that 



Restriction of Japanese Immigration, 5 

resolutions on exclusion adopted by the league on May 14 had 
been adopted by th^^ Ancient Order of Foresters, International 
Association of Machinists, International Association of Elevator 
Constructors, American Brotherhood of Cement Workers, Inter- 
national Association of Blacksmiths and Helpers, International 
Association of Photo-Engravei-s, International Association of 
Electrical Workers— representing*- 377,500 citizens; that the reso- 
lutions had obtained the unanimous indorsement of the Building 
'I'rades Councils of California, numbering 33,500 artisans; that 
a total of 219 communications had been received from as many 
(U'ganizations, representing 11,970 members, indorsing the reso- 
lutions; that the San Francisco Labor Council, representing 
about 40,000 members, had also given its indorsement; that up 
to date the movement had received the indorsement of 82,470 
citizens of this state and 377,500 outside the state, these numbers 
being continually on the increase ; that the committee on publicity 
and statistics had been instructed to conununicate with the editors 
of the principal labor journals relative to the publication of mat- 
ter relative to exclusion ; that the secretary had been instructed 
to submit something every week to the various labor exchanges 
to keep the matter constantly before the public ; that the com- 
mittee on organization had added nineteen to the number of af- 
filiated organizations ; that the monthly income of the league had 
reached $219; that Congressman Cillett had announced squarely 
that he was in favor of applying the Chinese exclusion law to the 
Japanese and Koreans; ;that Congressman McKinlay had writ- 
ten that he was heartily in accord with any movement along the 
line under which the league was working; that Congressman 
Needham had written that the resolutions of the league would be 
given careful consideration by him, and that he hoped his stand 
when the matter came up in Congress would be satisfactory.' " 

BOYCOTT OY JAPANESE. 

One of the strong methods advocated is the boycott. It is 
again and again referred to in the reports of the meetings of the 
various labor organizations, and the Chronicle came out openly 
and advocated it. In an editorial we read: "T/ie Chronicle is 
seeking to convince all classes of our citizens that they ought not 
to employ Japanese. If they are not employed they will go 
away. But in no case should more be admitted. We cannot too 
quickly prohibit the immigration of Japanese coolies." Is it any 
wonder that the Waiters' Union has begun a war upon Japanese 
restaurants? We read: "Pickets have been placed in front of 
the Japanese eating joints and an effort will be made to secure 
the name of every union man entering. The attention of the 



6 R£striction of Japanese Immigration. 

union of which the patronizer is a member will then be directed 
to his case. ' ' This is only one of the many cases that have ap- 
peared in the papers. Though The Chronicle would certainly 
not openly advocate it, reference has several times been made in 
that paper to the possibility of bloodshed. To their honor, be it 
said, the Japanese all through this unjust agitation have been 
quiet and discreet. No people could be more patient. 

iRecently one of the Y. M. C. A. secretaries in San Francisco 
was refused entertainment for a prominent Christian Japanese 
by several of the first and second-class hotels of the city. To 
what lengths will not race prejudice carry us? A high-born, 
well-bred Japanese, honored by being sent to Europe as a del- 
(^gate to an International Y. M. C. A. convention, treated there 
and in the Eastern states with marked courtesy, and turned down 
in San Francisco, the center of this agitation, because he was a 
Japanese, just as a common negro would be excluded from cer- 
tain hotels in the South. And the statement was added, in one 
instance, that no Japanese, not even the personal representative 
of the Emperor, Avould be received. And this is Japan, the lead- 
ing nation in the Orient, which a few years ago was admitted 
into the sisterhood of civilized nations, and more recentl}* by 
treaty twice into alliance with Great Britain. 

HOW THE JAPANESE LIVE. 

It is stated in the articles circulated that the Asiatic immigrant 
intends at all costs to preserve his old standards and to herd with 
his mates, but this is precisely what the Japanese do not do 
nearly so much as the great mass of immigrants that come from 
Europe. In the great cities of the East, and of the West as well, 
there are quarters set apart for the various nationalities. This 
has been true of the Chinese, which fact had its influence in the 
anti-Chinese discussions and riots a few years ago. But with rare 
exceptions it is not true of the Japanese. Certain Japanese, it is 
true, in many of our cities flock to Chinatown, but the great mass 
do not. They live in various parts, dress in American style, live 
in American homes, use American furniture, and almost without 
exception eat our food. They do not save, as do the Chinese, but 
far too many of them spend as they go. There are places where 
they do not mix v;ith white people, namely, at the race-track and 
prize-fights, and in the saloons and prisons. But, as far as 



Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 7 

allowed, they attend our schools; and one reason why so many 
are engaged as domestics is that they wish to learn our ways. This 
is noticeable not only here but in Japan also. 

Of children of school age in Japan who are in attendance at 
school, the percentage is considerably over 92 for the whole 
empire. What European nation from which we are receiving 
immigrants has so good a record! There are no anarchists nor 
nihilists swarming to our country from Japan as from Europe. 
Compared with the average immigrant, the Japanese is repub- 
lican in ideas, and, though not pennitted to become a citizen, is 
loyal to our flag and our institutions. In their rejoicing over 
victories, the sons of Dai Nippon have nearly always a banzai 
(hurrah) for President Roosevelt. At Riverside, this State, in 
celebrating the fall of Port Arthur, they several times sent up 
day fireworks which opened out into large American flags. After 
more than seventeen years of residence in Japan, I am glad 
to endorse Dr. Griffis' opinion concerning the characteristics of 
the Japanese as given in "The Mikado's Empire," one of the very 
best books ever written on Japan. He says : "In moral char- 
acter, the average Japanese is frank, honest, faithful, kind, 
gentle, courteous, confiding, affectionate, filial, loyal." Can this 
be said of the average citizens of the various European countries 
whose representatives are coming, to America by the thousands 
each week? 

PACIFIC COAST 'PAPKKS ARE OUT OF SYMF'ATIIV 
WITH THK MOVFMFNT. 

The Los Angeles Herald of September 30th, in an editorial, 
puts the responsibility where it belongs. It shows that San 
Francisco is the storm center of the agitation, that all this 
opposition to Japanese immigration emanates from professional 
labor leaders, whose motives are questioned, and it contends that 
there is no real danger. I give an extract : 

"The anitation against Japanese immigr'^tion to California, 
which has been going on since the early part of this year, stai'ted 
afresh after the end of the Russian-Japanese war. San Francisco 
is the storm center of the talk, but strong evidence of it is seen 
in some other northern cities and to some extent in those of 
Southern California. The argument is adduced that the pros- 
perity of the Japanese in this state will attract vast numbers of 



8 Restrictio7i of Japanese Immigration. 

their eoiintrynieu who are now in the army. Hence the picture 
is drawn of a swarm of Japanese cheap workers in California 
elbowing Americans out of the labor market. 

''All this opposition to Japanese immigration emanates from 
professional labor leaders, mostly those of San Francisco. The 
purpose is to maintain a shcitage of labor, such as has been 
witnessed this year in harvesting the fruit crops. With a 
demand greatly exceeding the supply, as was the case a few 
months ago in the orange belt, the labor leaders find it an easy 
matter to enforce demands concerning wages and work hours. 

"There has been no real danger, and there can be none, of a 
great inflow of Japanese to California. No more will come, in 
any case, than are needed to supply the deficiency in the market. 
And those who may come, like those already here, will be indus- 
trious workers, not the kind who make a pretense of looking for 
work while praying that they may not find it. ' ' 

The Argo7iaut criticises severely the inconsiderate action of the 
State Legislature and shows that it will be sure to be interpreted 
as "subserviency to the ignorant demagogues of labor." A part 
of its language is: 

"We warn the Legislature of the State of California, which 
this Aveek adopted a concurrent resolution urging upon the na- 
tional government the passage of a law or negotiation of a treaty 
looking to the restriction of Japanese immigration, that it will 
be regarded by the press of the United States with marked 
disfavor. The great majority of the journals of the East will, 
as with a single voice, characterize our Legislature's action as 
'subserviency to the ignorant demagogues of labor.' Scornfully 
they will inquire: 'Are our national policies to be dictated again 
by the voice from the sand-lot? Does another Dennis Kearney 
dominate the California Senate and Assembly?' " 

The same paper ridicides the method of exaggeration followed 
by the Clironide in the articles which are the basis of the pam- 
phlet issued by the Exclusion League. It says editorially : 

"The Clironicle will effect nothing for its cause by talking, 
when referring to the Japanese, of the 'manners and customs of 
the slave pen.' Such exaggeration hurts rather than helps, for 
we all know that the ordinary Jap is a neat, clean, personally 
pleasing little fellow." 

The San Francisco Call opposes the position of these agitators 
in two particulars— concerning the legal aspect and the unde- 
sira})ility of the Japanese as compared Avith immigrants from 
Europe. 



Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 9 

Coneeriiino- the former, it Says editorially : 

"That lanj^nag-e puts Japanese in this countiy upon an exact 
equality with iuuuigrants from any other country, and bestows 
upon Americans in Japan a like quality. Instead of meaning 
that either nation may exclude the people of the other, while ad- 
mitting the people of all other nations, it means that Japanese 
in the United States shall be upon a perfect equality with other 
foreigners under our laws, and that Americans in Japan shall 
enjoy the same equality there. 

"When it was conceived that Chinese immigration was harm- 
ful to us we made several ineffective attempts at exclusion, which 
were voided by the courts. Finally the Supreme Court of the 
United States, in an opinion written by Mr. Justice Field, 
pointed out that exclusion legislation must be based upon an 
amendment to the treaty. We sent a special embassy to China 
and secured the desired amendment, and exclusion legislation fol- 
lowed. If we want to exclude the Japanese we must take the 
same course. The Japanese government has already let it be 
known that it will not assent to any treatment of its subjects 
different from that given to the people of other nations. In 
other words, it adheres to the equality of treatment secured in the 
clause of the treaty above quoted. To advise that we proceed 
against Japan with that treaty in existence is to advise mischief. ' ' 

T}\c Call is equally emphatic in its statement as to the desira- 
bility of Japanese immigrants as compared with those coming to 
us from Europe. 

"The race question aside, we are receiving at the rate of 5,000 
a day foreign innnigrants that are no more desirable than the 
Japanese. AVhen our Chinese population was at its highest fig- 
ure its eft'ect upon wages was imperceptible compared with what 
is sure to follow the coming of the millions of immigrants that 
are flocking here from Europe. So the effect of the few thou- 
sand Japanese that are here is inconsiderable compared to that 
produced by the Southern and Southeastern Europeans. If we 
put Japanese exclusion upon the wage question, and close the 
door to them while leaving it open to Europeans, we are stopping 
the spigot only and leaving the bung open. One needs only to 
visit the immigrant quarters in the large Eastern cities to dis- 
cover that the Japanese and even the Chinese do not suffer in 
comparis(m with their fellow inunigrants from Europe in any of 
the respects in which immigrants are to be studied in the light 
of th(Mr economic effect upon the country." 



10 Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 

POSITION OF THE LEADING EASTERN PAPERS. 

Space will not permit extended extracts from many papers. 
One or two must suffice. The iVew Yor]i Tribune said, editorially, 
April 26: 

"There have been few, if any, things more ill timed and less 
in harmony with the general spirit of the American people at 
present than the agitation against Japanese immigration. At 
a time Avhen Japanese arms and statesmanship are commanding 
the admiration of the world these agitators are doing all in their 
power to make an enemy instead of a friend of the greatest 
Asiatic power, a power worthy of the best treatment accorded to 
a European nation, and one whose friendship and self-respect 
America in particular, which introduced Japan into the ways of 
modern thought and life, should of all nations thoroughly 
respect. Judging from the achievements of the Japanese, both in 
peace and in war, they would form a desirable element in 
America's material life — much more desirable, in fact, than 
many elements against which no special protest has been made. 

"There can be no danger from a wave of Japanese immigra- 
tion, such as has been feared and provided against in the case 
of China. As a result of the present war in the Far East, Japan 
will soon have an outlet for its energies and its surplus popula- 
tion in Corea, and possibly in Manchuria, Avhich, in addition to 
the work it is carrying forward in Formosa, will abundantly 
provide for practically all the population it can spare for many 
years. The Japanese who have already made America their 
home fit in admirably with American customs and ways, and 
conform in dress and standards of living to Amer- 
ican ideas, in which respects they differ radically from the 
Chinese, against whom America discriminates through the in- 
stinct of preservation of national ideals and characteristics." 

The Philadelphia Press, April 20, said editorially : 

"San Francisco has never been an example of moderation to 
all men ; therefore its recent outburst against the immigration of 
Japanese should not cause serious disturbance. Led by one of 
the papers of the city, a considerable sentiment has been awak- 
ened against the admission of Japanese to this country, and the 
State Legislature has even taken action in consonance with the 
agitation of this particular journal. So serious a local issue 
has the subject become that the Methodist Ministers' Meeting— 
they have religion with a spine out West — appointed a committee 
of three to investigate the subject. 

"Their findings have recently reached the East. The paper is 



Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 11 

a model of careful, thorough, clear-cut statement. The committee 
appreciated the gravity of the charges, to the effect that the 
Japanese in this country are an undesirable element of the 
population, and that in their own country they are inspired by 
sentiments of bitter hatred against Americans. The worst that 
was ever said against Chinese immigration has been repeated in 
San Francisco with added force and made to apply to the little 
brown men from Japan. 

"The ministers take up these charges in detail. They show 
that the Japanese residents of California are clean in habit 
and character, quick to learn the best that America has to teach, 
conspicuously law-abiding and inclined to place the highest valu- 
ation upon their labor. The ministers adduce a mass of incontro- 
vertible evidence to show that the charges of a certain newspaper 
correspondent concerning discrimination in Japan against 
Americans are wholly unfounded, as is also the charge that the 
Japanese Government is sj^steniatically planning to deluge 
America with cheap labor. 

"All this would seem, to the average American, to go without 
saying. Its proof has been in all recent periodicals and literature. 
The defense entered by the ministers is timely, temperate and 
manly ; but most worthy of praise is the spirited plea made for 
American sympathy in behalf of Japan at this time, when the 
nation is fighting for its life, and for those ideals which have 
their best exemplification beneath the Stars and Stripes. 

"The demagoguery of certain Western papers was never more 
unwisely directed than in this instance, and it is altogether to the 
credit of the San Francisco preachers that they take up the 
cudgel so valiantly in behalf of a people who are commonly 
regarded as heathen— though in Japan it would be impossible for 
any nation to be treated in the fashion which the element com- 
plained of is treating the Japanese in San Francisco." 

So important is this document to a full understanding' of the 
situation that, in place of the extract, I give the paper in full in 
another place and bespeak for it a careful reading. 

METHODS OF DEALING WITH THE PROBLEM, 

The position of the CJironide and the action of the Labor 
Organizations contemplate exclusion laws. The joint resolution 
of the State Legislature, on the other hand, requests action by the 
President and the State Department rather than by Congress, 
By entering into any such treaty the Japanese Government 
would declare before the world the inferiority of her people to 



12 Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 

the masses of immigrants who are coming from Europe by the 
hundreds of thousands. It is only recently that Japan, after an 
awful struggle, succeeded in gettling relief from a treaty which 
discriminated against her. I refer to that which limited the 
amount of import duty which she could collect and exempted 
foreigners residing in Japan from the action of the laws of that 
country. Then the exemption existed both in China and Japan, 
and it still exists in the formfer. Japan is to-day a member of 
the sisterhood of civilized nations and an ally of Great Britain. 
Those who suppose that she is going to forget the awful struggle 
and to step from this pedestal and take her place along with 
China, as she was twenty years ago, or even as she is to-day, 
have not yet awakened to the situation. And in writing thus 
I do not refer to Japan's great military and naval strength ano 
to her power to enforce her rights. Some there are who fear and 
have given expression to their fears, but there is no "yellow 
peril" of this kind so long as we hold steadily to our best 
American traditions. 

OPINION OF PRESIDENT HARRIMAN. 

President E. H. Harriman of the Southern Pacific system said, 
on his return from the Orient, concerning his treatment in Japan 
and the Japanese being the dominant factor in eastern Asia: 

' ' I was interviewed when last in San Francisco and either mis- 
quoted or misunderstood, and therefore request that you will 
publish this statement in the exact language in which I give it. 

"Our visit to the Orient has been one not only of much pleas- 
ure to us all, but interesting and instructive. We were treated 
by all classes, especially in Japan, with the utmost courtesy and 
consideration. 

"Japan is working out her own destiny. Her people are in- 
telligent and active, the government is well organized and alive 
to the interests and working in (jlose alliance with the people, 
and will continue developing the commercial welfare of the whole 
country. 

"My opinion is that the Japanese are the dominant factor in 
the Orient and that there will be a large future development, 
though not immediate, and if the United States is to participate 
therein to any extent it will have to be by co-operation between 
its statesmen and those representing its business interests and by 
close commercial alliance with the Japanese. ' ' 



Restriction of Japanese Immigration, 13 

VICE-PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER 

Sehwerin, who accompanied Mr. Harriman, added that 
the anti- American boycott in China is still a very real danger, 
and said : 

"It is smoldering now, but the sooner America realizes that 
the fire has not by any means been extinguished the better. 
This is the first and only time that the people of China were ever 
as one on a single issue. The feeling is intense, the movement 
popular. The Chinese government, able for the present to hold 
the boycott in check, would be helpless to control it unless the 
people are satisfied by this government that the privileged classes 
of Chinese ti-avelers will be treated at our ports with the same 
courtesy extended to other foreigners. And it will take more 
than promises to satisfy the people of China. Something must 
be done, and soon, for it will take very little breeze to fan the 
smoldering embers into a blaze in w^hich America's hopes of trade 
with China will be veiy thoroughly cremated." 

THE REAL PROBLEM. 

Unrestricted inunigration of undesirable immigrants, from 
whatever country, is a national question and a pressing one. 

The Commissioner General of Immigration in his report 
for last year presents the statistics in such a manner as to 
impress the casual reader with the fact that unrestricted immi- 
gration is a national problem. For every one that came from 
Asia there were twenty-nine from Europe. The Japanese num- 
bered only one to ten compared with Russian immigrants, one to 
thirteen compared with Austrian, and one to fourteen compared 
with Italian. I present a few figures. There were 26,189 immi- 
grants from Japan as compared with 767.933 from Europe. 
There were 500,000 from the three countries above named, and 
what sane man will assert that on the average these are more 
desirable than the immigrants from Asia? Japan furnished 
14,264. a decrease of 5,704; China 4.309, double the number of 
the preceding year; and Korea 1,900. There were rejected as 
paupers, or likely to become so, 158 from Japan as against 1,396 
from Southern Italy. Of the Russians, 119 only were profes- 
sionals against 373 Japanese, and of the latter 44 were clergymen. 
Of immigrants over 45 years of age, there were only 380 Japanese 
as against 9,443 from Southern Italy. Of those debarred re- 
ported as relieved in hospitals, there were only four Japanese 



14 Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 

as against 1698 from Southern Italy. The comparative size of 
tlie Japanese menace may be seen at a g:hince in the following : 

COMPARATIVE SiZE OV THE JAPANESE MENACE. 



Italian Imnii^rants, 19;5,L'f)(i. 14 to 1. 



Austrian Immigrants, 177,1-^6. 13 to 1. 



Russian Immigrants, 14."), 141. 10 to 1. 

Japanese Immigrants, 14,264. 

The proposed action to restrict the immigration of Japanese 
only is not calculated to accomplish its purpose when looked at 
from Japan's standpoint or from ours. 

In this discussion we should be true to America's high ideals 
of justice and right, and, whatever the temporary embarrass- 
ment while the bi'oader question is being considered and a satis- 
factory conclusion reached, our amicable relations with Japan 
must continue. Representative Drew, in the State Assembly, 
voiced the sentiments both of America and of Japan when he 
said: "Our relations with Japan are at present amicable, and it 
is our desire that they should so continue." The Japanese will 
suffer long before they will do anything to break these pleasant 
relations, but the Japanese government will not be a party to 
any treaty that even implies a discrimination against her people, 
I am glad to believe that neither will President Roosevelt nor 
the Congress of the United States. 

REFUTATION OF CHARGES BY SPECIAL COMMITTEE. 

Report of IT. B. Johnson, Geo. B. Smith, and W. S. Matthew, 
a committee appointed to investigate the charges made against 
the Japanese in the United States and the Japanese Government 
by one of the leading papers of San Francisco in its campaign to 
secure the prohibition of the immigration of Japanese into this 
country, adopted unanimously by the Methodist Preachers' 
Meeting of San Francisco and vicinity. 

*' The contention of the l^ng series of articles and editorials 
hitherto published, is that the Jajianese in this country form an 



Restriction of Japanese Immigration, 15 

undesirahle element of our population, and that the Japanese in 
their own country are inspired by sentiments of bitter hatred 
against Americans. To prove the first, it is said that the Japanese 
work for starvation wages, are responsible for the increase of 
crime in California, that they intend at all costs to preserve 
their old standai-ds of living, and are utterly hostile to our 
institutions and laws. There is not one of these charges which 
can be substantiated. Tliero is no more law abiding class of 
immigrants on the Pacific Coast than the Japanese. 

CRIME AND WAGES. 

In their neatness and cleanliness, in their adaptability and 
desire to learn the best that we have to teach, in their freedom 
from crim(» and their desire to faithfully obey both in letter and 
spirit our laws, they are models whom we may well hold up for 
the imitation of many of the European innnigrants who are 
flocking to this Coast. The prevalence of crime throughout the 
State, and the condition of San Francisco Avith its vile brothels, 
its open gambling, its infamous race tracks, and its more than 
3000 saloons; these and many other things of which everybody 
knows, are not due to the presence of the Japanese among us. 

The Japanese do not work for starvation wages, as every man 
who employs them knows. They sell their labor at the highest 
price. They do not, as a rule, underbid American labor. Where 
they compete with white labor at all, they do so in competition 
with Italians and Russians and other European immigrants who 
have no more right here than the Japanese, and whose labor is 
not one whit more valuable. "The American Workman" is a 
phrase which covers in the articles referred to a multitude of 
aliens, good, bad, and indifferent in character. The charge that 
Japanese exert an "unclean" influence on American women and 
children in our schools is baseless and absurd. 



JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE FRIENDLY. 

As to the second charge, that the Japanese are inspired by 
sentiments of hatred against the Americans, a returned corres- 
pondent, named James F. J. Archibald, is quoted as saying that 
all Americans have been dismissed from their positions as in- 
structors in the schools, universities and military colleges in 
Japan, and that the Japanese Government has enacted laws 
which are in every sense of the word exclusion acts directed 
against American and (lerman subjects, which legislation pro- 
hibits any foreigner from holding land, from entering into any 
business, from practicing any profession, and from teaching in 
any school or university. These statements are absolutely false. 



16 'Restriction of fapanese l7n7nigratio7i. 

There are scores of Americans, many of them Californians, noAv 
teaching in Japanese Government schools. Many foreign phy- 
sicians Avith Government licenses are practicing medicine. In 
the matter of leasing and selling land, the Japanese Government 
is becoming steadily more liberal. For purposes of residence, 
travel, trade, and religious work, the country is throAvn wide 
open. 

To those Avho would learn how the Japanese feel toward 
Americans, we would recommend a reading of the extracts from 
Japanese papers in the March numl)er of "Review of Reviews." 
To those who know the facts, this is not necessary. The Perry 
Monument at the entrance to the Bay of Tokyo, the Grant Mon- 
ument at Nagasaki, and the recent great meeting in Tokyo to 
commemorate the signing of the first treaty with America, are 
the everlasting answer to the unjust critics of every nationality 
and every description who represent Japan as ungrateful or 
hostile to the American people. Were the Japanese people what 
the recent statements of the newspaper referred to would make 
them, we should not now be witnesses of the honor and righteous- 
ness manifested in all their diplomatic and other relations, and 
in their conduct of the present war, which have surprised the 
Western world. 

We regard the charge against the Japanese Government of 
systematically planning to deluge us with cheap labor, as most 
unjust. On the contrai'v, it luis exercised, and does exercise, a 
commendable supervision over the coming of its subjects to 
Pacific Coast ports. Only graduates of the Government Acade- 
mies are permitted to leave Japan for Pacific Coast ports, and 
even they are obliged to certify that they do not come as laborers. 
The peasant laborers who are arriving on the Coast come by way 
of Honolulu, and most of them were in the Islands before Hawaii 
became an American possession. 

AGITATION ILL-TIMED. 

For the reasons above mentioned and because of the influence 
of the agitation in stirring up race prejudice on this Coast and 
in Japan, and because of its deterrent effect upon the highest 
American interests in the Orient, avc do most emphatically pro- 
test against the publication referred to, and particularly at the 
moment when Japanese people are engaged in a life and death 
struggle with a great world power. We believe this agitation ill- 
mned, unwise, and unjust. 

FAVOR RESTRICTION BUT NOT DISCRIMINATION. 

The question of undesirable immigration, from Avhatever land, 



Restriction of Japanese Immigration. 17 

is one that deserves careful consideration by the American peo- 
pl. We are strongly in favor of such restriction of immigration 
from Japan and every other country as will secure adequate 
protection for American labor. The danger at the Golden Gate 
is no greater than that which presses upon us at Castle Garden. 
America cannot afYord to even appear to discriminate against 
a nation Mnth which for over fifty years we have been on such 
fi'iendly terms, and which, in the Providence of God, we have 
had so honorable a share in encouraging to take its stand in the 
great sisterhood of civilized nations. 

AN ECONOMIC AND MORAL ()UP:STION. 

Finally, we hold the course of the publications which have 
fomented this agitation, and the hurried and inconsiderate action 
i^i the State Legislature in harmony therewith, to be unworthy, 
un-American, and un-Christian. Americans, of all people in the 
world, should stand by a nation, whatsoever its color, which is 
struggling for a chance to live, and is fighting for the preserva- 
tion and extension in the Orient of the civilization for which 
America stands. Let us act as Christians. We cannot believe 
that the American peojile will accept the dictum that the only 
morality to guide us in the decision of such a question as this is 
that of the savage at bay or the bi'ute in trouble. AVe cannot for 
a moment accept the doctrine that in the struggle for existence 
ethical considerations have no place. Every economic question 
is fundamentally a moral question. Nothing can be economically 
right which is ethically Ma-ong. Let us not forget our own his- 
tory. Let us not be false to American traditions and American 
honor. Let us be faithful forever to the highest ideals and the 
noblest life." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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